Over the past few days, the viral video played repeatedly on ESPN and YouTube was a press conference by Coastal Carolina football coach David Bennett, going on and on with his Southern drawl about dogs and cats and how he wanted more “dawwwgs” on his team and no “kitty cats.”

Hilarious. But bizarre.

“You gotta know him to really know what he means,” said Mike Tolbert, who played for Bennett in college, “but I know what he means.”

And what is that?

“How do I put this?” Tolbert said. “He wants real men on his team. He doesn’t want any pansies.”

In that respect –- heck, in absolutely every respect -- Tolbert did Bennett and the CCU Chanticleers program proud Sunday. He did something even LaDainian Tomlinson never pulled off during his sure-fire Hall of Fame career in San Diego, becoming the third Charger ever to score twice on passes and once running the ball in a single game, and there was nothing remotely cat-like in the way he went about it.

“When it’s your team’s, any touchdown is a beautiful thing,” said center Nick Hardwick. “But it is so nice to see your guys run and run somebody over at the end, then stand up like nothing happened.”

Sunday, it was Minnesota safety Jamarca Sanford getting the full Tolbert treatment, taking the brunt of the battering ram head-on and being knocked on his keister inside the 5-yard line. Tolbert, short at an alleged 5-foot-9 and thick with muscle at 248 pounds, actually came out of his crouch and sort of strolled into the end zone for his first score.

With that third-quarter score of seven yards, Tolbert (and emergency placekicker Mike Scifres) brought the Chargers to within 17-14. It was Tolbert, wide open for one of his nine receptions, who’d caught the 1-yard TD pass that tied the game at 7-7 to take away the sting of Percy Harvin’s 103-yard return with the opening kickoff.

And it was Tolbert who caught the Philip Rivers pass with 5:01 remaining in a game the Chargers hadn’t led, diving in for the TD that provided the 24-17 victory. Both the quarterback and his target were adapting on the fly, Rivers rolling to his left, Tolbert seeing that and actually looking to throw a block if Rivers crossed the line of scrimmage.

Tolbert had 35 yards on a dozen carries, 58 yards in receptions. Before game’s end, though, he’d also come off with a bit of a limp, a knee injury he immediately dismissed.

“Just a part of football,” said Tolbert. “Put a little dirt on it and go on.”

Dawg, man. Nothing but dawg.

“He’s just the ultimate ballplayer,” said fullback Jacob Hester, who became fast friends with Tolbert when they joined the Chargers three years ago. “The guy does whatever you ask. Not many running backs in the NFL are in the wedge on kickoffs. He doesn’t even ask the question; he just does and does it about as good as it can be done.”